As Christians and Jews enter Holy Week leading to Passover and Easter, the conversations between God and Moses in Exodus give us some of our best and blessed examples of Bible prayers – especially conversational prayer.
In Exodus 3, God initiates prayer-talks that continue throughout this second book of the Torah. Instead of posting those pages, I’ll summarize highlights found in chapters 3 and 4 but encourage you to read all of Exodus this week to see what you notice too:
Exodus 3:
• God gets Moses attention with a Burning Bush.
• Moses takes the time to stop and see what's happening.
• God calls Moses by name.
• Moses immediately responds.
• God establishes a relationship with Moses by identifying with his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• Moses expresses fear.
• God immediately lets Moses know that the LORD is aware of the suffering of the Hebrew people and has called Moses to lead them.
• Moses does not ask who God is, but asks, “Who am I to lead?” (Exodus 3:11)
• God reassures Moses that God will be with him.
• Now Moses asks God Who God Is.
• God says, “I AM Who I Am,” (Exodus 3:14.)
• God also gives Moses a job description of what to expect and what to say.
Exodus 4:
• Moses worries that people will not believe him or respond.
• God gives Moses signs and powers that would get anyone’s attention!
• Moses gives God excuses!
• God again reassures Moses that God will be with him.
• Moses asks God to please get somebody else for the job!
• God gets annoyed yet provides someone else to help – Moses' brother Aaron.
Questions: From his early childhood, Moses lived with Pharaoh’s daughter, so he might not have been too confident about speaking Hebrew! What other occurrences could have made him hesitate to take on the task God gave him? Does lack of confidence in your God-given talents, experiences, or ability ever get in the way of the work you feel led to do?
Prayer: LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and me, thank You for providing everything needed to do the work that You have given. Help me to be clear about what that is! Help me also to stay focused and close to You in prayer. Praise You, LORD, for the reassurance, encouragement, human help, and heavenly power needed for the task at hand, and thank You for helping us to overhear Your patient, lively, and loving conversations with Moses.
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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. If you can use these articles in your Bible study group in your church or synagogue, just let everyone know where to find this site. For articles on a variety of topics, see Blogs by Mary.
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